a memory that lasts
by madetohealxx
Summary: lewis/jo, a missing camping scene from Thin Air.


_with every strike of lightning comes a memory that lasts._

lewis should be asleep. he knows that his broken ribs won't heal if he doesn't get some rest, just like he knows the blizzard that's been chasing them for the past few days won't go away on its own. if the non-stop search had been for anyone else, he would be asleep. lewis is just too pragmatic to waste his energy fretting over a patient who's as healed as she can be for the time being. except it isn't just any patient laying behind him- it's jo.

it's jo and she's cold and exhausted and scared- alright, not scared, but anxious. even taking away her entire life can't make jo anything less than fearless. maybe if he can calm the storm down... but he can't. that storm knows him now, and it's just waiting for the opportunity to pounce. jo isn't sleeping yet though, despite the exhaustion pulling her down. lewis smiles to himself- his earth warden powers can tell him so much, but it still isn't enough. he wants to know why she isn't sleeping and what will help her and how to fix this. he wants to know jo inside and out.

he needs to go to sleep and stop thinking about this problem without a solution. he needs to stop thinking about rolling over; about closing the gap between them and wrapping his arms around her; about combining their sleeping bags and the way her skin would feel (warm, smooth) if he ran his hand under her shirt and up her ribcage; about the taste of her lips and the sound of her gasping his name if he let his hands continue their journey.

he would kneel, one leg between hers, and watch her bite her lip for a moment. before she could get too impatient, he would flash her a smile- a wicked grin, jo would probably call it- and work his hands under her shirt. he'd splay them over her ribs, fingers wrapping around toward her back, thumbs brushing the undersides of her breasts, and leech some of her warmth before she could pull him down.

jo would twine her fingers into his shirt and drag him towards her. he would duck his head though, and trail kisses down her throat. he wouldn't be able to help the impatient growl that would escape when her shirt got in his way any more than he would be able to stop himself from getting distracted watching her wiggle out of it. he would stop then, hands resting on her waist, eyes unable to stop drinking in the view, until she would laugh and tug him back toward her.

lewis would pick up where he had left off, dropping small kisses along her collarbone and nipping at the skin. he wouldn't get far before jo's insistent hands would be pulling at his shirt. he would ignore her at first, letting his kisses get sloppier and his bites get needier. jo would finally succeed though, in getting her hands beneath the hem of his shirt. when she ran her cold hands up his spine, he would retaliate by tracing his tongue around her nipple and blowing softly on the damp skin. he would delight in the way her back arched and her eyes narrowed as she shivered beneath him, but only for a minute. only until he sat up and pulled his own shirt over his head in a practiced motion, and then he would shiver too. they would both smile and lean together in pursuit of the obvious solution.

he would lay her back down, hands braced against her hips, and start at her throat again, working his way down. the kisses would grow more urgent when his hands fumbled with the button on her too-large borrowed jeans. jo would try to help, but he would raise his head and "tsk" at her. he would look at her for a long moment, his gaze moving from her eyes to her lips to her throat to her shoulders then back up from her shoulders to her throat to her lips to her eyes. not settling in any one spot, but taking in the complete picture; not touching, but deciding on his next move. when jo whimpered plaintively, he would lean back down and plant a light kiss on her lips before moving back down her throat and shoulder and chest.

as he pulled her nipple into his mouth, teasing with tongue and teeth, he would pop the button on her jeans. he would smile a little at how she raised her hips, silently begging him for more, and bite down a little harder. she would inhale sharply, but that wouldn't disguise the moan that would come quickly after.

with the pants unbuttoned and unzipped all the way, lewis would be able to reach his hand in. he would switch his mouth to jo's other breast, and tease her much-abused nipple with fingertips now instead of his mouth. he would go to work then, teasing and touching and tasting, until jo was pressing her body up against his hands hungrily. when she reached down and started pulling him up to her mouth, he wouldn't resist. he would kiss a haphazard trail back up the path he had worked his way down so carefully and stop with his lips pressed against hers.

she would gasp his name, thrusting against the fingers he had inside her.

"jo," he would murmur back, knowing she was close. when she was nearly there, he would kiss her again, putting everything he had ever wanted and would ever need into it. he would open his eyes so he could see her face as she came, whispering her name like it was something sacred. she would feel him watching her, would open her eyes and look back at him.

lewis's breathing hitches. he's pulled out of his fantasy at the prospect of this person, who looks like jo and talks like jo and is jo but who isn't jo at all looking back at him from her face.

he realizes that on the other side of the tent, jo has fallen asleep. he smiles ruefully to himself and gets up, deciding there is no sleep to be had tonight so he might as well try to fix the weather instead. the storm, at least, still knows who he is.

* * *

thanks to ashley for being my beta, even when i'm being a bitch.


End file.
